Articular cartilage provides joints with excellent friction, coating, and wear properties necessary for knee movement, such as constant gliding. Articular cartilage consists of extracellular matrix (composed of collagen, poteoglycans, and water) and chondrocytes (cartilage-synthesizing cells). Collagen fibers in cartilage are aligned and generally have thin diameters, ranging from 10 nm to 100 nm, becoming thick (however, still in the nanometer regime) with age and disease (reference is made to Parsons J R, “Cartilage,” In: Black J, Hastings G, editors, Handbook of Biomaterial Properties, Chapman and Hall, London: 1998, 40, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein). Articular cartilage has a limited capacity for repair when the tissue is damaged or diseased (reference is made to Mankin H J, et al., “Metabolism of Articular Cartilage,” In: Simon S P, et al., editors, Form and Function of Bone in Orthopaedic Basic Science, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Columbus, Ohio: 1994, 12, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein). This limited self-regeneration capability has made it difficult to create successful cartilage-tissue engineered replacements.